A Morgan Hill planning panel has recommended approval of plans for 105 new single-family homes just east of the Highway 101 exit at Cochrane Road, clearing a path for a development that only exists in its current form because of a settlement between the city and the builder over California's builder's remedy law. The homes would rise on a 15.8-acre parcel that is part of a larger, roughly 28.5-acre site split three ways between housing, a future shopping center and land the city will use to meet its own affordable housing obligations.
The Morgan Hill Planning Commission approved a recommendation for the project, as reported by San José Spotlight, though commissioners said their discussion was limited because they could not question matters tied to the settlement itself. The Morgan Hill City Council will consider final approval of the project at a later date. Developer High Street Residential, a subsidiary of Trammell Crow Company that the outlet notes primarily works in rental properties, first filed its application for the site in October 2023.
A Legal Fight Rooted in State Housing Law
The project's path ran through California's builder's remedy, a provision of the state's Housing Accountability Act that, according to the City of Morgan Hill, allows certain housing developments to bypass local zoning laws when a city lacks a certified Housing Element. Per San José Spotlight's reporting, the builder's remedy let developments bypass height and density restrictions while Morgan Hill's state-mandated housing plan remained uncertified — and Morgan Hill's plan was certified about one month after High Street filed its application, according to the outlet. That timing put High Street's request to rezone commercially zoned land for residential use into legal limbo, which the city resolved by partially agreeing to the rezoning through a settlement rather than face what officials described, per the same reporting, as lengthy and costly litigation with both the developer and the state.
Not every account of the surrounding builder's remedy landscape lines up neatly. The Morgan Hill Times previously listed a 151-unit project at Cochrane Road and DePaul Drive among four builder's remedy proposals totaling 1,002 units citywide, while current project documents reviewed through the state's CEQA database describe 105 single-family residences on 114 lots at that same location. The dossier does not resolve whether the larger figure represented an earlier version of the project, a separate proposal, or something else. Separately, the Morgan Hill Times reported that once the state's Department of Housing and Community Development certified the city's 6th Cycle Housing Element on Nov. 29, the four builder's remedy projects then on file became subject to normal review under the city's local zoning and land-use guidelines rather than remaining exempt.
Splitting a 28.5-Acre Settlement Three Ways
Under the settlement, the roughly 28.5 acres at stake were divided into three parcels, San José Spotlight reported. The 15.8-acre housing parcel will hold the 105 homes; a 7.8-acre parcel is set aside for a future shopping center anchored by a Sprouts grocery store, slated to open in late 2027; and a 4.7-acre parcel will be transferred to the city of Morgan Hill to help meet state housing requirements. The housing component sits between the Cochrane Technology Center and the future shopping center, according to the outlet's reporting.
High Street Residential also agreed to pay the city $500,000 as part of the settlement and a 15% fee in lieu of building its own affordable units, per San José Spotlight. The company has not decided whether it will build the project itself or transfer it to another developer, the outlet reported, and High Street representatives declined to comment on the project when asked. Brian Pianca, identified as High Street's Northern California principal, thanked city staff for three years of work processing the project and described the process as collaborative, telling the commission the company was excited to present it, according to the same report.
What the Homes Will Look Like
The development calls for 105 market-rate, detached single-family two-story homes, each with a two-car garage, ranging from 2,147 to 2,615 square feet, San José Spotlight reported. Every home will have some form of private open space — a yard, porch or patio — and the project also includes more than 21,000 square feet of common open space, a fenced dog park, and a park larger than a quarter-acre with a covered picnic area and children's play area. Street parking will add 158 guest spaces, according to the outlet's account.
Earlier project filings reviewed by SF YIMBY describe the same site, located near the intersection of Cochrane Road and DePaul Drive, as spanning nearly 16 acres and laid out across 114 individual lots, with 105 designated for residential use. Those filings describe plans for a 2.27-acre stormwater detention basin and a 0.47-acre stormwater quality management area, along with roughly 0.49 acres of common open space. Architecture firm KTGY is responsible for the site layout and building designs, per SF YIMBY's reporting.
Environmental Review Flags Three Significant Impacts
City records reviewed by San José Spotlight indicate that the project's environmental impact report found mitigation measures exist for all three significant impacts identified, but that those impacts will remain significant and unavoidable even after mitigation. The report found that the project would eliminate nearly 11 acres of farmland and would push traffic beyond Morgan Hill's vehicle-miles-traveled threshold of 26.4 per capita by nearly four additional miles, according to the outlet. Air quality impacts, by contrast, were found to fall below Bay Area Air Quality Management District thresholds.
A separate City of Morgan Hill public notice states that an Initial Study prepared for the project determined its environmental impact report would need to focus on agricultural resources, air quality and greenhouse gas emissions, noise, and transportation as areas of potential significant impact.
Not Everyone on the Commission Was Pleased
Commissioner Steve Adamo voted to recommend the project's approval but made clear he was not happy about it, according to San José Spotlight. Adamo said the housing would replace commercial properties near the freeway that he had hoped to preserve, and he said he opposed placing homes in a location sandwiched between a drone manufacturer and a commercial outlet, the outlet reported.
City officials offered a more favorable view of the outcome. Edith Ramirez, Morgan Hill's assistant city manager for development services, said the project will advance the city and fit its character, and said Trammell Crow has been a good partner that listened to the community, according to San José Spotlight's reporting.
The Bigger Picture on Morgan Hill Housing
The DePaul-area project is arriving against the backdrop of Morgan Hill's broader housing math. The city must plan for 1,037 new homes by 2031 under its regional housing needs allocation, a figure the Morgan Hill Times reports is distributed across six income levels under the city's state-mandated housing plan. That same housing element, approved by the council in January and certified by the state's Department of Housing and Community Development on Nov. 29, projects that 1,819 homes are likely to be built in Morgan Hill between 2023 and 2031. As of Sept. 28, the Times reported, 10 of 16 jurisdictions in Santa Clara County still had not received HCD sign-off on their own housing elements — a reminder that Morgan Hill's builder's remedy saga, now headed toward final City Council review, was far from unique in the region.
